


Tutoring (March Madness PNAU)

by alldenspa



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-13 02:05:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10504188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alldenspa/pseuds/alldenspa
Summary: Jack has top grades and an ironed shirt, but at heart he's a fighter for justice. Hiccup would love to get back into studying, but he's stuck with being the boss of a violent street gang. A Punk/Nerd AU with a few twists ;-)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work is intended for the final round of March Madness 2017 as a submission for PNau. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Thank you @FuntasticFrost for beta reading <3

The nurse’s room was on the top floor right behind the music rooms. A stupid choice, because if you actually ended up hurt you wouldn’t make it there anyways. The sixth floor? Yeah, no.

Jack went here often. Maybe that was because he had fights so often, but probably not. Pure coincidence, surely.

“Hi, Miss Bennett,” he muttered as he entered. The nurse just gave him a bored look.

“Had a fight _again_ , did we, Mr. Frost?” She pulled open a drawer and produced a bandage and scissors.

“Yeah, just—patch me up and that’s gonna be it, okay?” said the boy as he sat down. This was his third visit at the nurse’s room that week. Stuff was getting out of hand.

“You know what I don’t understand?” asked the young woman while she carefully tended to a nasty scratch on Jack’s cheek. “How do you regularly get into these gang fights, I mean, where do you even take the time for it? Somebody like you must spend loads of time just studying!” She reached for the scissors, “I mean, don’t you? With your grades?”

Jack didn’t answer. His grades were fantastic—the details of why he had them, not so much. On the outside, he had ‘overachiever’ written all over him: Top grades, best of his year by far, every teacher’s favorite student, lots of extracurricular activities… Heck, he was even on the swimming team. And it was true that he worked really hard for all that. But did he want any of it? No. It was just because of his stupid family.

The real Jack Frost was somebody else: somebody who’d take a knife over a pen and who’d wear a sweater over a shirt. Which he did all the time anyways, now that he thought about it. Somebody who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty for what was right, and who definitely knew how to do it.

“Was it that street gang from downtown again?” asked Ms. Bennett suddenly, “You know, the _Furries_ or something?”

Jack let out a chuckle at the unintentional joke.

“The _Furies. Night Furies,_ yeah. They were beating up a seventh-grader I used to help out with homework. They’re the lowest of the low.”

A few moments later the plasters on Jack’s cheek and neck were finished.

“Okay, you’re good to go,” said Ms. Bennett, but her tone was strict. “And don’t you dare come back here with another open wound before at least Tuesday, you hear me, Jack? This is starting to become a real problem for you and over time it will affect your—”

She was interrupted when the phone on her desk rang. Her finger still pointing at Jack, she just gave him a look that seemed to say ‘Don’t test me, I’m the _nurse of death’_ and picked up the phone while Jack maneuvered his finest-highland-wool sweater over his head without pulling off the plasters, and in position so that the collar of his shirt was in the proper place.

“Yes, Bennett here… Yes… Yes, he’s here, do you want me to—Ah. Yes, of course, I’ll send him right down. Thank you.”

Jack looked up with a confused expression. Was he in trouble with the principal because of his fighting? No, that was impossible. Everyone at this school loved him for his grades.

“It’s the secretary,” explained Ms. Bennett, “She says there is someone important waiting to speak to you in her office. You should hurry.”

Jack opened his mouth to give a surprised answer, but he frankly didn’t know what to say. After a moment, he just replied with a quick “Okay, thanks, Ms. Bennett!” and left, but inside his head he couldn’t possibly imagine who might be waiting for him in the secretary’s office. What the heck?

When he knocked at the secretary’s door, a deep male voice that definitely didn’t belong to the secretary answered.

“Come in!”

Hesitantly, Jack pulled open the door and entered the room. Leaning over the secretary’s desk with two arms so massive, they could have been small pigs, was a giant of a man in an expensive fur coat. When he turned to face Jack, he revealed an impressive, braided beard that completely covered his chest, and eyebrows that could have slain a man.

“M—Mr… Mr. Vast?” stuttered Jack. He had expected many things, but definitely not this.

“Yes, that’s right, my boy,” replied the large man. Jack was speechless. Of course he knew who Mr. Vast was—He had seen him on TV and in the newspaper. But he had never expected the mayor of the city to come to his school and ask for a private talk with _him_ , Jack Frost. This was either some giant mistake, or he had screwed up something so bad that now even the local government was after him.

“Oh, is this about the—” Jack grabbed the handle of the door behind his back in an effort to keep himself steady on his feet, “—about the internship, Sir? I’m honored that you would visit me in person, but I’m afraid I don’t—”

“No,” interrupted Mr. Vast, and his small but lively eyes dulled a bit, “It’s not. I mean, you got the internship, of course… there wasn’t much of a contest, but… I’m here for something else.”

He leaned back with a sigh, and the secretary’s desk bent under the weight.

“It’s about my son.”

“Your… son? Hiccup?”

Mr. Vast nodded. “You know him?”

“Yes, of course,” replied Jack, “I mean, I used to be in his class until last year. I didn’t know him personally though, Sir.”

“Yes, do you know, why he left the class?” Mr. Vast sounded concerned, or maybe a bit sad.

“He—He failed it, Sir.”

There was an awkward silence, and Jack wasn’t sure if the truth had been the right approach here.

“He missed many of his classes over the year, Sir. Some of the kids even forgot he was in our year at one point.”

“Yeah, I know,” replied the mayor with a dismissive gesture, “He’s going through a difficult time, my son. But that’s why I’m here.”

Jack looked up in surprise.

“…Sir?”

“You see, it’s a slippery slope, and my son’s right on it. Last month he didn’t show up at home for two weeks. On Monday, I found a credit card in his room, and it’s not his. He doesn’t even have one. What I’m trying to say…” Mr. Vast cleared his throat, and it was easy to see that Jack wasn’t the only on unsure about how to deal with the situation, “…My Hiccup has been getting into some deep waters recently, and I was looking for somebody his age who might help him get back on track. You know, not missing his classes, getting enough sleep, studying… Being healthy. And with you winning the internship and all, I thought you might be the right person for this.”

Jack couldn’t help but run his fingers over the bandages on his face and neck. Granted, his grades were beautiful, but was he really the right person to ‘get somebody back on track’? In any case, the offer baffled him way too much for him to be able to think straight. After all, this was the mayor asking him directly, in a private conversation, to help out his son. He couldn’t believe it.

“Oh, I see, I mean—Of course, I’d be happy to see what—”

“Fantastic!” yelled Mr. Vast, his voice suddenly very loud, “I’m so relieved!”

He got up from the desk and walked over to Jack, letting a massive hand fall on the boy’s shoulder.

“I’ve told Hiccup that you’d pay him a visit this Friday, is that alright with you?”

“Yes, I mean—” stuttered Jack, struggling with the weight of Mr. Vast’s hand.

“Wonderful!” concluded Mr. Vast who was already turning towards the door, “I’m really looking forward to it! Thank you, Jack! You can really help him out, even if he doesn’t admit it!”

Parts of this were muffled by Mr. Vast trying to maneuver through the door to the office, which was a bit too small for him, and before Jack could say any more, he was alone in the room. He heard the mayor’s steps on the corridor outside and wanted to follow him, but now that he thought about it, he didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t possibly turn down a personal request from the city’s most popular mayor of all time, could he? He didn’t want to, that was for sure. And how bad could it be to give a former classmate some help with homework and all the other student things? And after all, this was the mayor’s household they were talking about. This would pay better than any summer job.

 

* * *

 

_Hi, my name is Jack, your father gave me your number. Is it ok that I text you on here?_

**Yeah, that’s fine. I’m Hic, but I suppose you already knew that, didn’t you.**

_Yeah…xD Your father asked me to come over today, I was just getting ready to leave. Is it ok if I just ring the front door?? You know, I haven’t been to houses like this before hahah_

**I’m not at home, sorry. Won’t be coming today**

_But..?_

**Yeah, I get the problem. Let me think about it, I’ll text you back in 5**

 

Confused, Jack read over the conversation again while on his way to his bike. Just what was wrong with this kid? He had known that Jack would be coming over since Wednesday, and now he wasn’t there? What kind of punk even did that?

Hiccup’s response came ten minutes later when Jack was already almost at the Vast residence.

 

**So, can u meet me somewhere in town**

_I suppose so? Where_

**Do u know the bridge leading into Old Church Park**

_Yeah_

**I’ll be around there, just text me when you get there**

_Ok, I’ll bike there now from your place_

 

Jack shook his head as he let his phone sink back into his pocket. Classic son of the mayor, he thought. Used to commanding people around. He put in his headphones with a frustrated sigh, and three songs later he was pedaling up the slope towards Old Church Park.

This was the area where he had found those Furies punks beating up his former homework buddy. Recently, you could see black leather jackets running around these streets more and more. At this point, the gang was already looking to expand into other parts of the city, they said. Pathetic, thought Jack. These guys didn’t know what was good for them, and as a result they just made other people’s lives terrible as well. They were the lowest of the low.

When he arrived at the bridge, he couldn’t help but let out a silent curse at the sight of the canal below. On Monday, two Furies morons had had an open knife fight on the grass slope leading down to the water, and an old lady walking by had been knocked over and down the slope in the process. She had hurt her leg badly and most of her bags had been taken downstream by the canal. Again, an example of the Furies just being the most pathetic, asocial people you could imagine.

On this intersection alone, Jack spotted five guys in black jackets scattered around the pavements to both sides. Just why had Mr. Vast’s son decided to meet here of all places, in Night Furies homeland? He couldn’t possibly support what these idiots were doing to the neighborhood.

 

_Ok, I’m at the bridge, where are you_

**Yeah, I see u**

**Hang on**

 

A moment later, a tall boy in a long brown trenchcoat crossed the street and came towards Jack. His hair was brown and looked as if it had been carefully combed, but then intentionally scrambled again to make it look less clean, and he had lined his vibrant green eyes with dark eyeliner that Jack had to admit looked really good on him. He was well built and could probably be mistaken for a 20+ year old easily if he tried to look like one. He wasn’t smiling.

“Uhm, hi!” said Jack hesitantly as the boy reached him.

“Hi there,” replied Hiccup and raised a muscular arm to shake Jack’s hand, “So you’re my new tutor?”

“Yeah, I suppose so…” Jack’s voice grew a bit weaker when he noticed that one of the guys in black was looking at him from across the street. It seemed as if he was watching the conversation, and the fact that he didn’t look away when he noticed that Jack had seen him made it all even more ominous.

“So, why did you want to meet in a place like this? You know, the Night Furies and all… They freak me out,” said Jack quietly. He was definitely not the person to shy away from a fight, and especially not if his opponent was a pathetic moron and troublemaker like this. His frequent visits at Mr. Bennett’s office were testimony to his ability to pick fights with Night Fury punks.

“Yeah, about that…” replied Hiccup and threw a quick look over the shoulder, “I can explain that later, but for now you’ll have to just trust me and follow my lead, okay?”

Jack’s eyes widened in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Hiccup gave him a frustrated frown. “Exactly what I said, you just follow me and play along, okay?”

“Uhm… okay?” Jack wasn’t sure if he liked where this was going. He locked his bike to a lamp post and got up, careful not to get dust on his shirt. Hiccup gave him a weak smile, and for a moment his whole face seemed to brighten up. The next moment though, it was already grim and fierce again as he turned around and gestured Jack to follow him down the street.

They crossed the road, and to Jack’s shock Hiccup gave a sign to one of the guys in black jackets, who pushed himself off the wall and started following them. Jack wanted to protest, but Hiccup just grabbed his arm and gave him a telling look that reminded him about what Hiccup had said. Jack didn’t like the thought of multiple Night Furies morons following them around in the slightest, nor did he like the fact that it was apparently Hiccup giving the commands. He wouldn’t possibly end up having to fight _all_ these guys at once, would he?

He followed Hiccup wordlessly down the street and into a narrow alleyway, where Hiccup turned into a dirty backyard. To Jack’s even greater concern, two large boys in black jackets were already waiting there.

“Is everything ready?” asked Hiccup the smaller of the two in a commanding tone.

“Yeah,” replied the boy and straightened up as he pointed to a steel door leading into one of the buildings.

“Good. Wait outside until I come out.”

With another telling look, Hiccup turned to Jack and gestured towards the door.

“After you,” he said, still using the same harsh tone he had spoken to the Night Furies in.

Hesitantly, Jack approached the door and pulled it open, then threw a confused look back to Hiccup, but the boy was already behind him and pushing both of them into the dimly lit room. Hiccup closed the door, and let out a relieved sigh.

“They can’t hear us from outside,” he said with a smile, but Jack wasn’t in the mood for smiling.

“What’s going on here?” he asked loudly, ignoring Hiccup’s finger pointing at a chair behind him, “What are you up to with these pieces of human trash?!”

“Okay, just let me explain, alright?” Jack wanted to interrupt him, but he was too distracted as Hiccup took of the trench coat and revealed an expensive black leather jacket beneath it.

“I—” he stuttered, “Just—fuck you!”

Hiccup looked as if he had expected this reaction. “Listen, will you just let me _explain?!”_

Jack let himself fall onto the chair with a hiss. “Yeah, go ahead, Night Fury scum. I’ll fight you right here, fair and square.”

Hiccup double-checked if the door was completely shut and came across the room until he was standing right in front of Jack. If only his face hadn’t been so damn handsome, Jack would have thrown the first punch already.

“Okay, this is the thing,” began Hiccup, gesturing nervously with his hands, “This is all way different than it looks. First of all, I’m with the Night Furies, yep. Actually… I’m kind of their leader.”

“Ohhh, then I’m gonna Take. You. Down!” hissed Jack, jumped up, and threw his fist at Hiccup, who flinched away and caught it with his own hand, but he obviously wasn’t trying to seriously stop Jack.

“Will you just _listen,_ you moron!” he shouted instead as he pushed Jack back onto the chair, “I didn’t choose this, okay? It was just for fun at the start. I was the boss’ assistant, just for kicks. But he died in Bulgaria and made me his successor, the shithead. And now I can’t get out!”

Jack hesitated and gave him a confused look. “You’re the boss, but you can’t get out?”

“Yeah!” Hiccup’s eyes looked so genuine that it was impossible to not believe him, “It’s like I’m a hostage, or something. They keep saying that even the boss can screw up. That he can commit treason to the gang and stuff. I swear, the moment I do _one_ thing that isn’t in their interest, they’re gonna come for me, son of the mayor or not!”

The way he said all this made it so compelling that Jack’s anger was completely swept away. He just looked at the tall boy with an incredulous expression.

“I told them that I was going to buy drugs from you, for our stash. That’s why we had to go in here and all—”

“Drugs?!” interrupted Jack.

“Yes, drugs, but _anyways_ , I have a favor to ask of you. You can get out of here anytime you like, but please listen to me first, okay?”

Jack took a deep breath. He didn’t know what to think about all this.

“What is it?” he said finally. Hiccup seemed infinitely relieved.

“About my father,” he explained, “You know he wants me to do homework with you and stuff. Go back to school and be at home more often. You absolutely cannot tell him anything about this, okay? He thinks I’m mixing with the wrong kind of people, and to be honest: I am! But it’s not like I want it that way, alright? I just fear that as soon as he finds out about my situation, he’ll send in the police or something, and then everything in this gang will get really messy. And I’ll be on the receiving end of that shitstorm, believe me.”

He sat down on the table with a sigh and looked to the floor. Jack was almost at the point of feeling sorry for him.

“Okay, but—” he replied, “What do you want me to do, then?”

There was a pause.

“I don’t know,” said Hiccup. “It has to look like you’re giving me extra lessons every week, but I’m dealing with gang stuff literally all the time. I’m almost never at home. You’d just have to meet me somewhere in the city every Friday or something like that, and I’ll try to bring my homework and stuff? I don’t know, man…”

For a moment, they both just sat there, thinking.

“I mean,” added Hiccup, “My dad will pay you a lot of money if you do it.”

Jack was perfectly aware of that, but he had to admit that money was already starting to be of secondary importance in this matter.

“Well,” he replied after another moment, “I’ll do it. Even if you’ll never step into a classroom again in your life, there’s a few things that you need to learn or you’ll never get anywhere from where you’re standing.”

Hiccup looked up with a surprised frown.

“Like what…?”

Jack smiled and stood up. “I’ll text you about all that later. For now, can you tell those to punks out there that they can, to use your language, _fuck off?_ I’d love to get out of this place.”

“Yeah, definitely!” replied Hiccup with a grin, and for the second time Jack saw his face brighten up like the sun when it comes out from behind a layer of clouds. This smile didn’t fit the black jacket one bit.

 

* * *

 

**Hey u there? Sorry, my phone’s power died and I just got home. Dad isn’t here atm**

_I guess ‘how was your day’ would be the wrong thing to ask here, wouldn’t it_

**Heheh yeah… Anyways**

**What was that thing u hinted at this afternoon?? Like, what do u want to teach me**

_Well I assume your dad will want to see at least some stuff coming from me visiting, so you’ll need to try and do a bit of homework ok?? I’m completely aware that it’s pointless if you’re not going to class anyways but we need to keep your secret_

_I’ve been thinking about this all evening tbh_

**Oh hahah ok**

_So like, next time I’ll bring some of my books_

_You can just put them onto your desk or something and it will look like you’ve actually started studying again_

**Wow that’s nice of u, thanks**

_No prob. I’ll get you English, Math, Physics and all that trash. You can take a look at them on your own at night or something_

_When we actually meet up every week I want to do something else_

**……**

**What’s that**

_Fighting_

_You need to learn how to fight_

**O_O**

_Tbh I’ve never seen someone with so much muscle being so weak_

_I’ll teach you_

_Because you need that to stand your ground against your gang_

**Wow**

**Thanks man I didn’t expect that**

**Like, at all**

_Yeah we’ll see if you still thank me when I bash you into the wall next Friday_

**Hah yeah talk while u still can, I’m doing pushups already**

_Yeah you better_

**We’ll see who’s the last man standing on Friday xDxD I’ll talk to u later**

_Heh ok_

_Talk to you later_

**Bye** **< 3**

_......._

_< 3_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For toffyy@tumblr  
> Thanks a lot to crazyfoxqueen@tumblr for proofreading! I appreciate it a lot <3

Beating up Night Fury morons whenever he caught them harassing kids or stealing groceries had been Jack’s pastime long before he had gotten to know Hiccup, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about the fact that he was apparently tutoring the gang’s leader on Fridays now. It was all pretty absurd, and although Jack sometimes felt conflicted about his choice of friends, he had to admit that he enjoyed spending time with Hiccup a lot. And anyways, it hadn’t been his _choice_ in the first place, had it?

Then on the other hand, Hiccups situation was dreadful. Jack didn’t even want to imagine what it had to be like when you were caught up in the affairs of the city’s largest street gang, always surrounded by large, beefy dimwits that didn’t care what they smacked to pieces as long as it was smaller than them, being under constant surveillance by their paranoid members even though you were formally their leader, and all that with the ominous certainty that your very father was the mayor of the city, and if you failed to keep even the tiniest detail about your hidden life as a gang boss secret, there might well be more than a family breaking. Jack had only briefly met Mr. Vast, but he could tell that Hiccup’s private life probably wasn’t easy. Kind of like his own.

They had met two times so far; during the first meeting, Jack had been too overwhelmed to really do anything. The week after that, Hiccup’s father had been so relieved to hear about the tutoring appointment that he had stayed home for work, so although Jack had announced in chat that he wanted to teach Hiccup to fistfight, the fact that Mr. Vast had been silently at work two rooms down the corridor had kept them from doing anything other than actual study.

Jack didn’t know how Hiccup had managed to break out of his gang’s grip for the afternoon. From what Jack could tell, his whole life from morning to night was dictated by the Night Furies. He attended meetings with members, patrolled the streets, and even had daredevil chases with the police at times — They just didn’t seem to ever let him be alone. Whenever Jack texted his ‚tutoring student’ (as it said in Jack’s contacts), his responses were brief and strictly formal. After one and a half weeks of shallow messages about how the gang was going, what the weather was like, and occasionally a subtle hint that Hiccup was looking forward to their next ‚meeting’, Jack was convinced that the Night Furies had even Hiccup’s phone under surveillance. Seriously, just how far were these criminals willing to go to prevent their own boss from ‚committing treason’? Then again, they didn’t have a clue about Hiccup’s problematic situation with his father and the fact that these tutoring sessions were absolutely necessary to keep up Hiccup’s facade, so Jack wisely took the hint and played along. They used ‚meeting’ instead of ‚tutoring’, ‚the package’ instead of ‚homework’, and even used code-names for each other to fool any possible observer. Even with these security measures though, it was obvious for both how much the other was looking forward to Friday afternoon.

 

* * *

 

“Harder! Who are you, my grandma?!”

Jack’s voice echoed back from the low ceiling of the cellar Hiccup had chosen as this week’s meeting point. They were standing at the center of a large and dirty room, both wearing only a sleeveless shirt and comfy pants as they circled each other with light steps. Drips of sweat were already forming on Hiccup’s forehead, but Jack still as cool as Samuel L. Jackson in a Tarantino movie.

“I said _harder!_ Left! Right!” shouted Jack as he blocked Hiccup’s fists with ease. His strictness didn’t seem to bother Hiccup at all, quite the opposite: He was visibly enjoying himself, even though his enthusiasm obviously wasn’t powering up his punches in the slightest.

“Oh my GOD!” Jack exclaimed after another laughable left swing from his tutoring student and pounced forward, grabbing Hiccup’s bare arm.

“Look at this, Hiccup,” he said, his tone a mixture of incredulous confusion and honest amusement as he pointed at the other boy’s upper arm, where beneath the skin a chiefly biceps was clearly visible, “You have like, muscles for _days!_ You’re probably three times as strong as me, how are your punches _this weak?!_ _”_

Hiccup, who realized that Jack was just honestly confused and not trying to be rude to him, grinned shyly and his cheeks took on a bit more color. That might have been because of the fact that Jack was gripping his arm, though.

“I’m sorry, I just—” he stuttered while Jack let out a frustrated hiss, but couldn’t help grinning himself, “…I like poetry, ok??”

Jack stopped mid-gesture and furrowed his eyebrows, his grin getting even wider.

“How is that an excuse for being _a limp noodle?_ _”_

Hiccup raised his hand and put it onto Jack’s when he felt that the other boy was loosening his grip — A move that he regretted immediately, as now even he himself could tell that he was blushing.

“I mean… I’m more on the soft side, alright? I like books and stuff. Heck, you know I didn’t choose any of this!”

He threw his hands in the air in a vague gesture to the walls around them.

“…Yeah, I know,” replied Jack and his grin mellowed a bit, “I guess it must be horrible for you, all this.”

He looked at Hiccup and was already worried that he might have overstepped the line, but the other boy’s face was already brightening up again.

“Well, I need to learn it, and to be honest: I have the best teacher imaginable,” said Hiccup and pulled up his fists again, ready for some more of Jack’s workout.

Half an hour later Hiccup was so powered out that he missed the chair he was letting himself fall onto and crashed to the rough floor with a curse, much to Jack’s amusement. He had definitely given it all he had, and Jack had to admit that he was sweating himself. Although that was more because of the fact that Hiccup’s training outfit didn’t cover his arms.

“Are you sure none of your Night Fury goons can hear us down here?” asked Jack after Hiccup had gotten up from the floor.

“Positive,” the other boy replied with a nod, “I tested it all out in advance. You can rest assured that they still think you’re selling me drugs.”

Jack looked at the steel door in concern. Their training session had been pretty loud, but he was inclined to trust Hiccup on it.

“Yeah, about that drugs thing…” he said and turned his head back, “How long do you think they’ll buy that as an excuse? For us meeting, I mean.”

Hiccup was still catching his breath, but his expression wasn’t too optimistic.

“Actually,” he said in-between gasps for air, “It’s not going great, but I’m working on it. I have a plan. Well—” He looked up with a cute smirk, “Like, 16% of a plan.”

Jack couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “That sounds just great.”

“Yeah, give me a break, man!” Hiccup was giggling himself, “But I can guarantee that I’ll have a new excuse ready next week. I have to, after all. We both know that us meeting is like, the only thing keeping my Dad from getting suspicious… on a side note, thanks a lot for picking up on my hints that my phone is under surveillance… they’re switching the member’s phones regularly so that everyone can keep an eye on who every other Night Fury has been texting. They even installed security programs to prevent you from deleting it.”

“Wow, that sounds… harsh,” muttered Jack. The more he learned about Hiccup’s situation, the less comfortable it seemed to get.

“Well, we’ll just have to continue to be careful and only speak in code. Besides, all the important details we can talk about in person once a week, right?”

Jack sighed. “To be honest, I’m not sure if once a week is enough for me in that regard.”

They exchanged a telling look, and Hiccup could already feel himself blushing again. It was true after all; he was more on the soft side.

 

* * *

 

 

Focusing on your classes isn’t easy when you know that your friend is caught up in some kind of 24/7 hostage trap, and Jack realized that the hard way when on Tuesday he received not one, but two exams with suspiciously mediocre marks. His old man wouldn’t be happy to see this, but Jack knew that the reason for his drop in performance was Hiccup’s situation, and if he was honest, that mattered more to him than his stupid father. Besides, he already had the internship at the mayor’s office in the bag, so who even cared if he got two average grades now?

Over the week, he made practice worksheets for maths and physics which he sent to the Vast residence for Hiccup to work on. From what he could tell, his friend might have been with gang affairs all day (or at least forced to spend his time around the Night Fury territory), but the work he had there was often boring or tedious, so Jack was sure his worksheets would help, and they did.

He had also given Hiccup advice on how to practice his fighting on his own, and they both knew that this part of the tutoring was probably more important than the school stuff. Hiccup did his best to practice regularly, and with his already impressively muscular body it was relatively easy to get the hang of it without having to work out for months beforehand. In their chat conversations he regularly dropped hints about how he was ‚applying what we talked about to my everyday affairs’, but even to Jack it was obvious that Hiccup’s true love was the studying itself.

Hiccup loved reading, both for fun and for education. He finished each worksheet that Jack sent within a few hours, which not only motivated Jack to make more, but also showed to him how deeply invested in studying Hiccup really was. Jack couldn’t imagine how well Hiccup would perform academically, had it not been for his situation at the Night Furies. He remembered how successful and obviously smart Hiccup had been at school before his mysterious performance drop that had him fail his classes all of a sudden. Looking back on it, Jack almost felt bad for not realizing the obvious. He felt like he should have asked if anything was wrong or if he could help in any way, even though at that time he had barely known Hiccup. Still, he should have noticed there was a problem, Jack thought.

 

* * *

 

**Yo Jack, are you on???**

**Jack?**

_Good evening N, what_ _’s the matter?_

**You won** **’t need to call me that any more**

**I** **’ve cracked the security on my phone**

_Oh! Does that mean we can chat safely now???_

**Yeah**

_nice!! how did you manage that!??!_

**Man, it wasn** **’t difficult in the end**

**I love programming**

_wow_

_youre academic_

**Didnt you know that from how fast I consume your worksheets**

_yeah but like_

_it surprises me every time_

_must be because idk_

_first impressions and all_

_I guess I just dont expect a street gang boss to be into studying : >_

**Heh I could say the same about you though**

**Nerdy boy with top grades, wears ironed shirts every day**

**Wouldn** **’t have expected you to beat up criminals in your free time**

**…if my Night Fury subordinates wouldn’t show me their bruises and cuts every day**

_hahahahah sorry_

_(I_ _’m not sorry)_

**Don** **’t be**

**Like, I get a really good overview on when and where you dish out that sweet justice**

**Those morons rage about you all the time**

**How you** **’re always there when they think they found a helpless victim**

**How they can** **’t seem to get a chance to steal a few things without you catching them**

**I always tell them that you** **’ve interfered with Night Fury matters for far too long and that I will put an end to it**

**But that** **’s just talk**

**You** **’re like, my superhero ;]**

_hahahaha thanks wow_

_glad to hear my work is appreciated_

_did I tell you that I start my internship at your Dads office tomorrow_

**Oh cool**

_Yeah I didnt want to do it originally, but I got no choice, family and stuff_

**Ok maybe this will sound a bit weird because you know, it** **’s my own Dad and all, but**

_what?_

**Could you, like**

**Keep an eye on them?? At his office??**

**I mean, the Night Furies are starting to become a real problem, there are more and more fights with the police**

**I** **’m trying my best to slow it down but you know as well as I that I’m not the real leader in here**

**So, I** **’m concerned**

_I get you_

_I_ _’ll keep my eyes and ears open_

**Thanks :] It** **’s just, if my Dad finds out that I’m their boss, I’m finished**

**It doesn** **’t matter if I didn’t want to in the first place**

_yeah I know_

_dont worry man_

_if the Night Furies are ever a topic at the mayor_ _’s office, you’ll be the first to know_

_guaranteed_

**Thanks, Jack**

 

 


End file.
